Page 26 of Violet

My eyes widen. So do Violet’s. My heart fills with hope, but she does not look happy.

“Eternity?” she demands.

Bert nods emphatically.

“What do you think this is, boys? Seduce a Grandma Day?”

“No, ma’am,” Liam says quickly.

“And only one of us is a boy,” Bert adds. “I’m three hundred and twenty-seven. Counted it this morning when this one accused me of looking over four hundred.” He jerks his thumb at Liam.

I mentally give Bert twenty points for practically reeking of old age. There’s just something about the way he holds himself, the way he speaks, that lets him look like he’s in his twenties and still sound ancient. Unlike Cash, who sounded like a normal guy in his twenties—for the most part, anyway.

“Oh Birdie, shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” he asks Violet, reaching for her hand.

“No. No. No. No. No.” Violet shakes her head vehemently. “Get out of our apartment. Go!”

Liam looks from her, to Bert, and then his eyes land on me. He looks like he’s silently pleading for something, I just don’t know what. All I can think about is how this is Violet’s chance. If Bert turns her, she won’t grow older. She won’t die. I won’t have to lose her.

“V-Birdie, maybe you should listen to him. He could turn you.” I worry that I might have offended Bert, but he doesn’t hesitate.

“Gladly. Without a second thought,” he cries. “I’ll turn you and your sister, both.”

“No.” Violet shakes her head again, then turns to me. “We talked about this, Violet. And I already said no.”

“But this is different! This time, he’s your mate.”

“I already had a mate. We lived a long, happy life together. We had a child, I had a job I loved. I did everything I wanted to do in life, and I’m ready to be with them again.”

Tears spring to my eyes. One moment of hope. One moment thinking I might get to keep Violet a little longer. But I won’t, will I? And neither will Bert, I realize, when I see the heartbroken look on his face. It’s honestly enough to break my heart, all on its own.

“It’s alright, little mate,” Liam pulls me into his side. Like I don’t still look eighty-years-old, or maybe like he doesn’t care.

“Please, Birdie!” Bert drops on one knee in front of Violet. “Give me a chance to prove I can make you happy.”

“I said no.” Violet grabs my purse from the coffee table and raises it. “Now go, before I make you go.”

“Please, my love.” Bert grabs her other hand and kisses it.

Violet’s eyes narrow.

“Thou art more lovely and more temperate,” he starts waxing poetically again. His words sound familiar, and Violet glances at the book of Shakespeare sonnets that’s on the coffee table.

“Don’t you try to trick me with your pretty words,” she shouts, lifting the purse. And then she bashes him over the head.

“Birdie, please!” Bert cries, jumps to his feet.

“Don’t you Birdie me,” Violet shouts, lifting the purse in warning. “Get out. Now!”

“Violet?” Liam pleads, and I realize he’s talking to me. And that he still has his arm around me. And that I’m leaning into his side.

He makes me feel safe. Makes me feel warm. Makes me feel like I can trust him, when I hardly even know the guy. It’s that last thought that has me pulling away from him, stepping back, shaking my head.

He and I would never work. Not when I have to hide who I am. Not while they are still after me. Not when I’ll always have to keep running, keep hiding.

“Just go,” I whisper, trying not to cry.

Chapter 12